Programs &Outcomes
Minnesota Alliance Leadership
2020 State Legislative Agenda: Restore State Funding for Boys & Girls Clubs Career Readiness Programs
What Happened?
After almost 10 years of BI-PARTISAN support of state funding for our youth workforce programs, our funding was cut to $0 for the current biennium.
While our funding was included in both the House and Senate versions of the budget, the closed door negotiations at the end of the 2019 session resulted in the elimination of funding for thousands of youth across Minnesota
What Was the Impact?
Almost 5,000 youth per year, ACROSS MINNESOTA, were participating in college and career readiness programs at Clubs funded through DEED in 2019.
Due to the loss of funding, participation in our career readiness programs is down more than 60% over the same quarter last year. This is due mostly to a lack of funded staff positions to administer these programs
Impact of Less Staff
"Activities were cut in half because of the staffing shortage that we had. We didn't have as many staff to run the activities, so areas had to be shut down more often." - Nathan Jansen, program director at the Little Falls Boys & Girls Clubs
the request
$750,000 in the state's supplemental budget would restore career readiness programming to previous capacity for one year. This funding would be split up across 50+ Club locations, statewide
$750,000 is just 0.05% of the state's estimated $1.5 billion revenue surplus and would help more than 5,000 Minnesota teens prepare for their future.
how YoU Can Help
Reach out to your elected, state, officials by email or phone to let them know the important role Boys & Girls Clubs play in preparing youth for the future. Ask them to support funding to Boys & Girls Clubs in the supplemental budget.